After suffering two consecutive rain outs, the Marshalltown Speedway was back in action again Friday night. Fans flocked to the speedway for free grandstand admission night thanks to KMJ Performance Warehouse as they enjoyed the racing action provided by the the 117 race cars on hand. Todd Cooney in the IMCA Late Models, Brayton Carter in the IMCA Northern SportMods, Leah Wroten in the IMCA Hobby Stocks, and Jeff Stensland in the MADCRA Mod Lites, all made return visits to the winner's circle. It was Jeff Aikey's first time winning in the IMCA Modifieds, and getting his first career win in the IMCA Stock Car class, was 14 year old Dallon Murty.
The MADCRA Mod Lites ran their feature first and it was Jeff Stensland going home with the trophy in this one. Stensland came from tenth starting spot, worked his way methodically through the field to catch second place runner Mike Morrill and leader Joe Glick when a yellow flew on lap thirteen. Stensland took advantage of the restart, and by lap fourteen, he had the lead. He held it the final lap to the checkers and the win. Glick finished in second Morrill was third, fourth went to Joel Huggins, and Terry Brown rounded out the top five. This was Stensland's second trip to Victory Lane at the speedway this season.
Leah Wroten paid her second visit to Victory Lane in winning the IMCA Hobby Stock event. Wroten started eighth and quickly moved herself forward, much to the delight of her cheering fans in the stands, taking the top spot at lap three. From there, she never looked back on her way to the flying checkers. Veteran racer Bill Bonnett made his first appearance of the year at the track, and scored the runner up spot after starting ninth. Bonnett's car suffered major damage at the beginning of the season at the Southern Iowa Speedway, when a rent a driver for the night had a bad experience. This may have been one of the first times back on the track for the race car. Ben Newhouse was third, Jacob Floyd started eighteenth, and was scored fourth, and Justin Ginther was fifth from starting eleventh.
The IMCA Northern SportMod 18-lap feature saw Brayton Carter taking the win. Carter caught then leader Tony Olson at lap nine and by the time lap ten was scored, had taken over the helm. Carter then pulled away to score a comfortable win, his third of the regular season, plus also winning the Frostbuster. Tony Olson held down the runner up spot, third went to eleventh place starter, Jake McBirnie, fourth was Thomas Egenberger, and Travis Peterson rounded out the top five. Carter came from twelfth starting spot to get to Victory Lane.
The IMCA Stock Car 18-lap feature was one for the record books as 14 year old Dallon Murty, son of the "Chelsea Charger" Damon Murty, led all laps to score his first career IMCA Stock Car feature win. Murty set his ride to the top of the track much like his dad, and finished well ahead of second place Steve Meyer. Shawn Ritter finished in third place, Todd Reitzler was fourth, and Dave Atcher completed the top five. It's always nice to see someone get their first win, and this was just the first of no doubt many more in his future.
Just after the Stock Car feature went green, veteran hometown racer Jeff Wollam found himself shoved off the track at the top of turn one, and he took a light tumble over and out of the track. Thankfully, he was okay, but the car appeared to at least have a lot of cosmetic damage. It took a bit to get the car removed, and it was eventually towed off behind the grandstand and through the parking lot.
Todd Cooney had to fend off Jeremiah Hurst most of the 20-lap IMCA Late Model feature in order to capture his second feature of the season. Cooney came from eighth starting spot, to take the win. Hurst, who started ninth, finished as the runner up. Darrel DeFrance took the third place, fourth was Dalton Simonsen, and Luke Pestka started tenth, and finished in fifth place.
The night cap was the the 25-lap $1,000 to win IMCA Modified A main. Jeff Aikey drew the outside front row in the draw/redraw show last night, and would lead the entire race on his way to the checkers....his first in the Modified class. Joel Rust surged back past Cody Laney, Torrence, California, in the closing laps, as they went second and third respectively. Tim Ward came from eleventh to finish in fourth, and 15-year old racer from Pahrump, Nevada, Kollen Hibdon started thirteenth, and finished fifth.
The native out of state drivers continue to do well back here in Iowa and it seems more and more are showing up to spend their summers racing in our area....some becoming permanent transplants. We note that three of the top five racers are natives of California, Arizona and Nevada.
Marshalltown Speedway will be racing on a special night next week during the Central Iowa Fair. They will hold the earlier weathered out Dale DeFrance Memorial and Bill Davis Memorial show on Thursday, July 11. There will be no racing on Friday July 12. The green flag drops at 7:30.
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